​According to a Herald article this morning there is a shortage of candidates to contest the Auckland local body elections with no opposition candidates as yet in 5 of the 20 Ward Councillor positions and 5 of the Local Boards areas. Waiheke is not among them. Unless there is a last minute flurry of nominations it is possible there will not be enough candidates to create a full Council.

​Councils are hoping a flurry of last-minute candidates for local body elections will step up today, with many short of nominations to fill positions as of last night.The deadline for nominations closes at midday, but by late yesterday evening in Auckland, there were not enough candidates to create a full council.

Only one person had put their hand up for the two seats available in the Manurewa-Papakura ward, and one for the two seats on the North Shore wards.

And in the Albany, Franklin, Manukau, Orakei and Rodney wards, candidates look likely to get in uncontested as the number of nominees matches positions available.

In Albany, former league coach Graham Lowe and current Upper Harbour local board member Lisa Whyte face no contest for the two seats in the ward.​Local boards are in even worse shape - five areas don't have enough nominees to make the cut, and seven have just enough so the candidates will be uncontested.Auckland is not the only council stretched finding candidates.

​I doubt this will be the situation after noon today, the deadline for nominations. According to the same article nearly half the nominations last election came in during the final 48 hours.

There has undoubtedly been much community angst on Waiheke that the current failed Waiheke Local Board team will stand unopposed. There is a thirst for change away from a negative, backward looking board to one that focuses on the future and how to achieve positive change. I have been repeated asked if I will stand.

Given the damage the Waiheke mainstream media can inflict on candidates they do not favour, new candidates are wise to leave filing their nomination papers until the last minute. As I have stated before I have no doubt good people will come forward to give the community the choice it craves.